18 minutes ago, Timmy U said:

Robin Ventura who can play above average shortstop would be a pretty darn good outcome.

He's basically Boozer in the NBA draft...without the flashiness of Dybantsa Peterson or Wilson.

Three of those dynamic prep athletes might not even make it to mlb though.

Only Lackey seems pretty certain to get there in that 1A tier of players, along with Flora.

The top of this draft feels akin to the “a boat’s a boat, but the mystery box could even be anything…it could even be a boat” Family Guy joke. Everything I have read is that Emerson may have a slightly higher ceiling than Roch but a much lower floor and further distance to the majors. IMO, don’t overthink this, if the two players are close in terms of ceiling, always take the college player.

2 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

The top of this draft feels akin to the “a boat’s a boat, but the mystery box could even be anything…it could even be a boat” Family Guy joke. Everything I have read is that Emerson may have a slightly higher ceiling than Roch but a much lower floor and further distance to the majors. IMO, don’t overthink this, if the two players are close in terms of ceiling, always take the college player.

We also don't need to swing for the fences here. We have a very solid IF already. Would you rather a 80% chance at a 4 WAR player with a 15% chance of a bust or a 25% chance at a 6 WAR player with a 35% chance of a bust, to give a hypothetical.

20 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

The top of this draft feels akin to the “a boat’s a boat, but the mystery box could even be anything…it could even be a boat” Family Guy joke. Everything I have read is that Emerson may have a slightly higher ceiling than Roch but a much lower floor and further distance to the majors. IMO, don’t overthink this, if the two players are close in terms of ceiling, always take the college player.

If they are really THAT close, signing amount comes into play in as much as you can push more draft picks down to improve the overall package. If there is a clear separation, take that guy. I do think the Sox will end up taking Roch because of his proximity to the majors. The Sox whole history is trying to rush things, and I don't think this will be any different.

22 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

The top of this draft feels akin to the “a boat’s a boat, but the mystery box could even be anything…it could even be a boat” Family Guy joke. Everything I have read is that Emerson may have a slightly higher ceiling than Roch but a much lower floor and further distance to the majors. IMO, don’t overthink this, if the two players are close in terms of ceiling, always take the college player.

Glad you're back. Feel free to poke around the other draft thread as well. Lots of good info there.

IMO, the draft playbook should be Roch at the 1.01 followed by two high ceiling prep prospects. Giving Roch say an even $10M and the 5% overage should give us a combined ~$2.2M to elevate our 2nd & 3rd picks. For perspective, if used entirely on our 3rd round pick (77th overall), that would allow us to boost the bonus amount to $3.3M or 29th overall money. There is also an opportunity to punt a couple picks in round 6 to 10 to add another $400k to $600k of pool. We could ultimately have enough to pay late 1st round money two prep players with our 2nd & 3rd picks, still make most of our top 10 selections, and still go $150k on a bunch of guys after round 10. To me, this is the way.

Just now, Chicago White Sox said:

There is also an opportunity to punt a couple picks in round 6 to 10 to add another $400k to $600k of pool.

Oh no. You are going to summon @GreenSox.

Edited May 20May 20 by DirtySox

22 minutes ago, chitownsportsfan said:

We also don't need to swing for the fences here. We have a very solid IF already. Would you rather a 80% chance at a 4 WAR player with a 15% chance of a bust or a 25% chance at a 6 WAR player with a 35% chance of a bust, to give a hypothetical.

Fully agree. And let me be clear, I am very much a ceiling over floor guy when it comes to all drafts, but at the 1.01 in baseball you can oftentimes be afforded a high degree of floor with the best college positional prospect. And over time, I think taking that floor as long as you aren’t sacrificing too much on ceiling likely pays off. The good news is we should have the pool to double up on high ceiling preps in rounds 2 & 3.

8 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

If they are really THAT close, signing amount comes into play in as much as you can push more draft picks down to improve the overall package. If there is a clear separation, take that guy. I do think the Sox will end up taking Roch because of his proximity to the majors. The Sox whole history is trying to rush things, and I don't think this will be any different.

That’s certainly a consideration, but Emerson & Roch are represented by the same agency so hard to build too much leverage there. Emerson likely can be had cheaper, but not sure at a dollar amount that likely changes the calculus.

8 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

Glad you're back. Feel free to poke around the other draft thread as well. Lots of good info there.

Thanks and I definitely will. These past couple of months have been so rough without Soxtalk that I almost convinced myself to post on Sox Machine or god forbid Reddit just to have some one way dialogue. Hoping the recommended fixes will work when I get back stateside, even if just on my home’s Wi-Fi.

8 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

Oh no. You are going to summon @GreenSox.

Feels like punting at least two picks is almost like a cost of doing business type thing. Just part of playing the overslot game to gain ceiling elsewhere.

12 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

Oh no. You are going to summon @GreenSox.

This is one of those things that I feel like pretty much any baseball should know, but most don't apparently. If you don't believe me, look at the bonus lists.

7 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

That’s certainly a consideration, but Emerson & Roch are represented by the same agency so hard to build too much leverage there. Emerson likely can be had cheaper, but not sure at a dollar amount that likely changes the calculus.

Each guy still has to be represented individually, and look at what is best for them.

4 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Feels like punting at least two picks is almost like a cost of doing business type thing. Just part of playing the overslot game to gain ceiling elsewhere.

It's totally the play, and I'm sure he gets it conceptually, but I feel like we get a punting rant every draft class. I think he just likes to play it straight maybe?

6 minutes ago, southsider2k5 said:

Each guy still has to be represented individually, and look at what is best for them.

Theoretically yes, but agents will still use this to gain leverage to some extent.

5 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Theoretically yes, but agents will still use this to gain leverage to some extent.

And if they screw up trying to play both sides of the fence, they will be sued out of existence and ruin their reputation.

3 minutes ago, DirtySox said:

It's totally the play, and I'm sure he gets it conceptually, but I feel like we get a punting rant every draft class. I think he just likes to play it straight maybe?

There was one year we did punt like five picks I think (could be wrong) and I don’t love that. But even in say 2024 when we fully punted on two picks in rounds 6 to 10 and partially punted on two more, we came away with Bonemer, Larson, & Antonacci all as overslot picks. There is typically a method to the madness and I have an incredible amount of confidence in Shirley’s ability to both identify talent and optimize the full use of his bonus pool.

15 minutes ago, Chicago White Sox said:

There was one year we did punt like five picks I think (could be wrong) and I don’t love that. But even in say 2024 when we fully punted on two picks in rounds 6 to 10 and partially punted on two more, we came away with Bonemer, Larson, & Antonacci all as overslot picks. There is typically a method to the madness and I have an incredible amount of confidence in Shirley’s ability to both identify talent and optimize the full use of his bonus pool.

They 100% will punt a few picks. I expect a high ceiling prep bat and hopefully a prep arm or two. The depth of the high school pitching is very good in this class.

Edited May 20May 20 by DirtySox

7 hours ago, Chicago White Sox said:

Thanks and I definitely will. These past couple of months have been so rough without Soxtalk that I almost convinced myself to post on Sox Machine or god forbid Reddit just to have some one way dialogue. Hoping the recommended fixes will work when I get back stateside, even if just on my home’s Wi-Fi.

You can also try creating a Soxtalk app on your home screen if you have an iPhone. Just ask any LLM how to create an iPhone app icon for Soxtalk.com and tell it that it’s powered by the latest version of invision community.

I think Shirley has punted rounds 9 and 10 every draft, so it’s a safe bet he’ll do it again.

Would be funny if they took Landon Thome and Joseph Contreras in the 2nd and 3rd rounds or vice versa.

30 minutes ago, Lukakke Appling said:

I think Shirley has punted rounds 9 and 10 every draft, so it’s a safe bet he’ll do it again.

So Shirley he'll do it again*

53 minutes ago, ChiSoxFanMike said:

Would be funny if they took Landon Thome and Joseph Contreras in the 2nd and 3rd rounds or vice versa.

Yea Mon - we be jammin but it be lookin like dey both be picked sooner dan wez wanting dem da be. Boyyyeeee.

Fun seeing you on X 🤣

36 minutes ago, ron883 said:

So Shirley he'll do it again*

Wha dis be de gramma police?

On 5/20/2026 at 4:15 AM, Timmy U said:

Robin Ventura who can play above average shortstop would be a pretty darn good outcome.

Sure, indeed. Roch Cholowski has and had a degree of hype behind him that is basically unprecedented. So, that’s the disconnect within this discussion. Some air has been leaking from the hype balloon is all. Hype of this kind of magnitude is usually ceiling based. Here , we have high floor hype

Edited May 21May 21 by Chick Mercedes